You might be asking why the Kamala Harris campaign sent VP candidate Gov. Tim Walz into deeply red Nebraska.
It's not just because he's a Nebraska native (Walz grew up in Butte, a small rural community in the northern part of the state). It's also because Nebraska is one of only two states that doesn't have a winner-take-all system for electoral votes, meaning Democrats can win one electoral vote if they win Omaha's swingy Second Congressional District — as happened in 2008 and 2020 .
Despite being a Walz solo rally, the event at the Astro Theater near Omaha attracted big crowds, with attendees reporting long lines outside the venue and video from inside showing a packed house:
Taking the stage to chants of "coach! coach! coach!" — a nickname he has picked up thanks to his background as a high school football coach — Walz wore his Nebraska upbringing on his sleeve, drawing a sharp contrast between the state's small-town values and the policies of the Republican ticket, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance:
But in addition to the usual political stumping, which included touting the economic policies Vice President Kamala Harris has proposed , Walz also talked about a regional dish that few outside Nebraska are familiar with: the runza.
It started when Walz attacked Vance's reputation as a representative of Midwestern America, saying, "do you think JD Vance knows one damn thing about Nebraska? He's gonna be here next week. You think he's ever had a runza?"
"That guy would call it a Hot Pocket," Walz said to thunderous applause. "You know it. Every one of you in here know it."
For those not in the know, a runza is simply a bread pocket with meat filling , but as AllRecipes notes , the treat — a "a rectangular pocket of yeast dough filled with ground beef, cabbage, and other fixings" — comes from a rich history that's " rooted firmly in the Nebraska soil ":
"It's the cabbage that roots this delicacy firmly in the Nebraska soil, where German-Russian immigrants settled in the late 19th century. One of the recipes they brought was the bierock, a pocket-pastry sandwich filled with savory ingredients, sometimes including sauerkraut. No one is sure where the name "runza" came from (perhaps for the Low German "runsa" which means “bun shape,” or the soft shape of a round belly), but in 1949, two descendents of one of those immigrant families, Sally Everett and her brother Alex Brening, opened the first Runza Drive Inn in Lincoln, Neb., serving the family version of the sandwich."
- AllRecipes.com
The runza has become heavily associated with the fast food chain of the same name, which was launched in 1949 and has since grown to 90 locations in five states.
Walz stopped at a Runza while he was in town, telling workers "we really came just to go to Runza, and then we did a little rally on the side":
The Minnesota governor ordered the Swiss and mushroom, which he described as "kind of a classic."
"If you're just going be a good person, you stop at Runza," Walz said.
The visit comes ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Monday in Chicago.
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